In today’s digital age, privacy is a growing issue for both individuals and companies consuming data. Increasing user concerns about privacy and the use of third-party cookies has forced the industry to make changes that will restructure the way marketers target their customers through display advertising. While this makes thing more secure for users, it makes it more difficult for companies to identify prospective customers.
The effect on programmatic display advertising
Traditionally, target marketing is done through intent signal monitoring where information is collected about the types of content contacts interact with online, and then analyzed to find patterns that indicate an individual or account is actively in-market and researching a purchase. Previously, a large portion of this information came from third-party cookies. With the move to address privacy concerns, platform publishers such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple, now are eliminating cookies in their products, removing this source of critical data for marketers. This leaves B2B marketing and programmatic display advertising platforms looking for new sources to credibly track user behavior across the internet.
In the short-term we may see a decline in display advertising targeting efficiency due to the loss of third-party data. More data means more precise targeting and better conversion rates for companies. This benefits both the marketer and the buyer. No one wants to be inundated with ads about things that are of no interest, and marketers are going to be unsatisfied with the results.
So, what is the answer? How do you effectively reach buyers that are in market for your product or solution?
Building wider data networks
The short answer is that the demise of third-party cookies will result in the rise of first-party behavioral data across all channels of B2B marketing. Large-scale third-party solutions are going to have to adapt quickly. This means that data-driven marketing and demand generation platforms will build wider networks to compile data from publishers’ content, Java script, and first- and second-party data.
For B2B display advertising programmes to be successful they need an extensive amount of data to find the buyers that are in market for a specific product or solution.